


Call Me Mom

by Caitriona29



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, Funeral
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-12 00:33:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19217983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caitriona29/pseuds/Caitriona29





	Call Me Mom

Emma started her day off as she always did. She woke up at seven, showered and got dressed for work. She was currently teaching guitar to little kids to fill in the gaps between different gigs. By the time she went downstairs she had about 5 minutes to talk to Alyssa over some coffee,

“Oh shit babe I gotta go or I’m going to be late, I have an early appointment with one of the kids. I love you, see you later”

“I love you too babe”, after having a warm kiss placed on her cheek Emma finished her coffee and toast and hopped in her car.

Emma was comfortable in her life. She usually had decent jobs, an amazing fiance, a caring grandmother and somewhat supportive parents. Her mom and dad were still unsure about Emma being gay but at least they were on speaking terms.

Emma pulled into the parking lot and turned off the ignition. She went to check her phone in case there were any messages she missed whilst driving,

“Shit.” She had left her phone on the kitchen table. She would just have to suffer through the day without it.

 

Finally at four o'clock Emma started her drive home. Saturdays were busy for lessons and the last one had gone about fifteen minutes over time. On the way back she stopped off at the store to get food for dinner. It was her turn to cook that evening.

 

She pulled up to the house when it was close to five o’clock. Walking into the house she heard little paws running up the hallway and suddenly their little Boston terrier was jumping at her feet, she bent down to pet him as she spoke to him,

“Oreo, hey little buddy! I wonder if mommy is home yet?” she strolled into the kitchen with Oreo following happily behind her feet. A post-it note was sitting on the table when she walked in,

 

**“Hey babe, I was going to text you but it seems you’ve left your phone home. I put it upstairs beside the bed. I had some time between appointments so I came back and walked Oreo. He has also been fed! I’ll be back home before six. I love you ♡ Please don’t burn down the house! -Alyssa xxxx”**

 

Emma smiled to herself as she put the note in the back pocket of her jeans. Alyssa never leaves a short note, she always makes sure to explain everything. Yet another thing Emma loved about her fiance. Oreo had sat down, staring up at her, waiting for the next move.

“Oreo?” his ears lifted slightly and he cocked his head upon hearing his name,

“I love your other mom so much. Now I gotta make dinner so I guess you can sleep”. After a few seconds Oreo walked over to the couch, suddenly losing an interest in what Emma was doing.

 

Emma started cutting up the vegetables for the curry she had decided they were going to have for dinner, humming a tune she had been teaching earlier in the day.

As she stood beside the pot, letting the curry cook, she heard the front door open and Oreo went running down the hallway again,

“Hey baby I’m home”

“Hey I’m cooking”

“I can tell, it smells amazing” Alyssa walked into the kitchen and gave Emma a kiss before she sat down at the table,

“So how was work?”

“It was good. The usual, singing and playing guitar you know. How was yours?”  
“Oh you know, psychology and all that fun stuff”

Emma place a bowl of curry and rice in front of Alyssa and one for herself. The two girls chatted while trying their best to ignore Oreo’s begs for food.

“I’m going to go up and shower and then do you want to watch a movie? It feels like a movie night”

“It can always be a movie night ‘Lyssa, if you make it happen” Emma loved watching movies with Alyssa. It reminded her of the start of their relationship. Mrs.Greene would go out every Saturday night and sometimes she’d be gone an entire weekend, so Alyssa would come over and the two girls would snuggle up under a blanket and watch a movie in Betsy’s living room together. They had to hide but they were together. It was different now. After many years of patience and education, Mrs.Greene was extremely supportive of the two girls being together. More supportive than Emma’s parents.

“You ok there Em? Looked like you were in a different world there”

“Yeah I’m good, just thinking about stuff. Could you get my phone on your way back down for me please?”

“Of course, see you in a bit”

“See you”

Emma turned on the television and after ten minutes of scrolling through Netflix she gave up and decided it best to see if Alyssa had any ideas. She was nearly falling asleep when Alyssa came downstairs again,

“Sorry babe I accidentally had a bit of a concert in the shower”

“Accidentally? I’m sure it was honey. I couldn’t decide on what to watch so I just thought I’d wait for you”

“There’s too many to choose from! Oh here’s your phone by the way” Emma snuggled up to Alyssa while she waited for her phone to turn on. Once it started up a few notifications came through, and then a few more, and then a lot more. One after the other, texts, missed calls, voice mails.

“Wow Emma what has you so popular?”

“I don’t know” her voice was shaky when she spoke again, “a lot of it is from my dad. He never calls that much”

“Give him a call back honey. I’m right here with you”. Before calling her dad, Emma held the phone up to her ear and listened to one of the shorter voice messages, her dad started speaking in her ear,

“Emma I need you to call me back” it sounded like he was crying, “something has happened to your mother and I need you to call me as soon as you get this”

“Everything ok babe?”

“Something has happened to my mom, it sounds bad ‘Lyssa” Emma was growing more anxious with every second that passed

“Ok take a breath, I’m sure it’s ok, how about you give him a call back?”. Emma’s hands were shaking as she clicked the call button. After only three rings her dad picked up,

“Dad? Is everything ok? What happened?”

“Emma thank god, I didn’t know how long it was going to be before you answered”

“Dad what happened?” she repeated the question again, “Is mom ok?”

“Emma I’m sorry”

“You’re sorry? What are you sorry for? Dad what is happening?” Alyssa took Emma’s and gave it a squeeze, smiling up at her

“Emma, your mother, she passed away this afternoon, I’m sorry” Emma’s stomach dropped, she couldn’t hold the tears back any longer.

“She? She what? How?”

“They think it was a heart attack” Emma couldn’t catch her breath but she stood up off the couch, feeling trapped,

“They think? HOW CAN THEY NOT KNOW? DAD?”

“Honey I’m sorry I don’t know. They’re still trying to definitely determine the cause of death. I can’t talk right now. I need to sort stuff out. I’m sorry. Call over to the house tomorrow morning” and with that he hung up.

“Dad? Dad? Oh my god you hung up. Of course you fucking did” Emma let her phone drop to the ground and she stood there shaking, crying, trying to breath.

“Emma what’s going on? Talk to me baby” Alyssa stood up and Emma collapsed into her sobbing.

“She’s dead”

“What do you mea-”

“My mom. She’s dead. She’s gone. She had a heart attack they think. I just, I don’t know” Alyssa held Emma protectively, whispering in her ear.

“Emma, I am so sorry. I got you baby. I got you”

The two girls stood like that for longer than either of them could tell, Emma’s tears soaking Alyssa’s t-shirt,

“God I’ve ruined your shirt from crying, I’m sorry I’m such a me-”

“Shhh Em you don’t have to apologise for anything. Do you want to go to bed or stick to watching a movie? Or we can do something else?”

“I don’t know. I just can’t think about this. Not right now. Movie?”

“Of course baby, let’s snuggle up on the couch”

Alyssa sat down and Emma curled right up at her side, head laying on Alyssa’s chest. After a few minutes they settled on _Madagascar_ , not that either of them were paying much attention to the movie.

 

As the end credits started playing both girls had managed to fall asleep with Oreo curled up at their feet.

* * *

 

Emma walked into the bedroom, tying her tie as she went. She had decided to wear a suit to the funeral, she already felt too uncomfortable and adding a dress on top of that would be an overload.

“How are you feeling?” Alyssa had just finished putting on some mascara

“Is the suit too much? Mom isn’t, or um wasn’t, super ok with the whole gay thing. Would it be wrong to wear a suit?” Alyssa took Emma’s hands to stop her fidgeting with the already perfect tie,

“The suit is perfect. If you’re comfortable, that’s what matters. Your mom would love you no matter what you’re wearing.”

Emma squeezed her hand in return.

“We should get going baby. We still have to meet your dad and the Broadway gang beforehand”

“Right ok. I guess we should then”

* * *

 

Emma sat on the edge of the church pew. She had only ever been to a funeral once before, her Grandpa’s. But she was only five and still innocent. It was different this time. This time it was her own mother and Emma knew exactly what was happening, not that she could process it properly.

“Now we’re going to let her daughter, Emma, say a few words”. Emma’s eyes shot up upon hearing her name. Alyssa squeezed her hand as she stood up.

Standing up at the altar and seeing all her family sitting there hit Emma harder than she was expecting it to. She knew coming to a church and seeing her extended family again would be hard, no matter the context but it was even worse having it be at her own mother’s funeral.

“Um hi” she leaned back slightly from the microphone, “I’m Emma Nolan, Amy’s daughter. Well obviously you all knew that. Or maybe not, I don’t actually know how often my mom talked about me. Anyways, I just want to thank you all for being here,  I know it isn’t easy to have to say goodbye to someone close”

Emma stopped and looked at her mom’s picture that had been placed on top of the coffin.

“My mom and I weren’t really close, I won’t lie and say we were.” Emma could feel tears filling her eyes quickly, “But I’m still going to miss her. We had started to rebuild our relationship, it was slow but it was getting there. Now I won’t ever know. I won’t know what could’ve been.” Emma was fully sobbing by now and felt someone wrap their arms around her shoulders.

“No pictures with her at my wedding. No advice on kids. I wish I didn’t have to say goodbye. Mom I felt like we were finally on track to seeing eye to eye. I’m sorry” and with that Emma ran up the aisle and out into the church parking lot.

Footsteps were following her outside but she wasn’t sure who they belonged to. She heard Alyssa’s voice but there was someone else as well. She sat down on a rock and felt someone sit down with her, holding her shoulders. When she looked up she saw that Mrs.Greene had joined her,

“Oh Mrs.Greene. You didn’t have to follow me out, I’m sorry it was just a lot in there”

“Emma don’t apologise. I’m here for you” Mrs.Greene wrapped her in a tight hug,

“I know you and I didn’t always get on but you need to know I’m here for you always. You’re going to be my daughter-in-law soon enough honey”.

“Thanks Mrs.Greene it means a lot”

“You know you can always call me Mom, Emma. No matter what”

Emma exhaled as she spoke again,

“Thank you”.


End file.
